Night
This happened before the glasses started sliding aboard Zanshin.
I usually leave my little handheld VHF turned on during the night. Sometime during the evening I heard the MRCC Fort-de-France side of a MAYDAY conversation and I really felt sorry for the officer. It took him about 40 minutes of questioning to determine that it was
- a powerboat
- 30-ish feet
- with a defective engine
- 2 people aboard
- No injuries
- No imminent danger
- Longitude of either 63 or 60 degrees. Since the windward islands are at 63 and a 60 degree longitude would be about 180nm further east, the former was more likely.
The controller had good reception, but the people on board were evidently panicked and couldn’t respond coherently to even simple questions. I had to turn the radio off, since there was nothing I could do and I wanted to sleep.
Morning
I’m back to my work in the virtual office. I haven’t admitted it publicly, but I’m fortunate to have a job that coincides with my hobby. I’m afraid that my employers will reduce my wages if I admit that I actually like the work. Luckily, they don’t read this blog/diary! Apart from early-morning conference calls, the work is quite interesting and challenging. And my “Dishy McFlatFace” is making it all possible.
Noon
Still at work, I’ve been decimating the cheese selection left by Suzy and Dan. The steaks are sealed in their vacuum bags and I’m not sure how long I should keep them in the fridge. Due to the weather, we’ve done a rain-check on our BBQ day aboard.
Afternoon
One of the T-Bone steaks, that had almost frozen solid in the fridge again, is now burbling away in the sous-vide cooker awaiting consumption tonight.
I hadn’t planned on eating it quite yet, but one of the forums I frequent had a long thread about where to get the best steaks in St. Martin and that triggered my hunger. I hope that tonight’s answer
to that best steak question will be “on Zanshin, of course!”, despite the sliding glasses on Zanshin due to rolling.
Evening & Dinner
The steak has been sou-vide-ing for long enough now. I’ve got the small potatoes boiling and will wrap them in foil (with some olive oil and garlic) to put on the BBQ along with the steak. I always find it surprising how ugly the steaks look when coming from the pot, but a bit of char from the BBQ works wonders.
